Under 21 European Championships 
/ The Betfair Contrarian / 06 June 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Can this man lead England to glory in a major football competition?
"England have two players with 25 or more games under their belt, whereas Spain’s longest server is Diego Capel with 20, while there is also more stability at the top with Pearce now in his fifth year in charge. Spanish coach Luis Milla took over just last summer."
Arise Sir Stuart of Pearce! Psycho's knighthood is in the bag according to the Contrarian who is backing England to win a tournament in the sport known as soccer, is he off his rocker?!!! Judge for yourself by reading these four finely crafted arguments...
England's Under-21s haven't won the European Under-21 Championship since 1984, when incidentally they overcame the country perceived to be standing in their way on this occasion, Spain, in the final. However, after missing out on glory so narrowly in Sweden in 2009, the Contrarian is confident of a successful return to Scandinavia as they head to Denmark. Here's why he recommends that you should snap up the [5.3] on Stuart Pearce putting himself in contention for a knighthood...
England came so close last time
It's not unheard of for the runners-up of the previous European Under-21 Championship to claim victory in the final of the following tournament, with it proving a more frequent occurrence than in either the senior equivalent or the World Cup. England's chances of becoming the fourth side to go from losing finalists to winners in the space of two years have to be fancied even more because holders Germany and semi-finalists Sweden and Italy all failed to qualify.
Surprise champions are a rarity
While the presence of Iceland and Belarus in the competition's final eight will shock many, the likelihood of either actually taking the trophy is incredibly slim given the regularity with which the European Under-21 Championship is won by one of the continent's traditional power players. There have been ten instalments over the last 20 years, with Italy winning five, Holland two and Spain and Germany one. The one slight surprise was Czech Republic in 2002, though that was a bit of a freak as they triumphed in only two of their five matches, while they had an unusually strong squad, with Petr Cech, Zdenek Grygera and Milan Baros among those at their disposal. Of this year's participants, just Spain and England are in the top 20 of FIFA's senior world rankings, so the rarity of underdog success indicates that one of them will be crowned champions.
The Young Lions are a well-oiled unit...
At a level where the pool of players changes at an alarming rate, it is difficult to get a team operating as a cohesive unit because of the constant need to rebuild, so the fact that the England players have more experience of working in tandem than their main rivals is a considerable boost. Eleven of the 23 players named in the Young Lions' squad are in double figures when it comes to caps, compared to eight for favourites Spain [3.1] and Group A's shortest-priced nation Switzerland [8.8]. England also have two players with 25 or more games under their belt, whereas Spain's longest server is Diego Capel with 20, while there is also more stability at the top with Pearce now in his fifth year in charge. Spanish coach Luis Milla took over just last summer.
...and their big guns are more established than Spain's
Top-level experience is a rare commodity when it comes to the age range of players involved in this competition so those that have it undoubtedly possess a huge advantage. Prior to Michael Mancienne's recent switch from Chelsea to Hamburg, England were being represented by seven players that are on either Manchester United or Chelsea's books, and five of those made at least 16 Premier League appearances, with three making 25 or more (Tom Cleverley, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck). By contrast, the Spain party features no Real Madrid players and five from Barcelona, but they averaged nine top-flight outings to the English starlets' 15 and not one of them, even Bojan Krkic, reached double figures in terms of La Liga starts.
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